Schoolyard Confrontation
One spring day, a small group of girls cornered a person of indeterminate gender ...
“Its time you stopped acting like a tomboy! We’re taking you shopping for some girl clothes, right now!”
“Who says I want to go? And who says you get to decide how I dress or act?”
“We like you, we just want you to come out of your shell, and and be the pretty girl you can be.”
“If you liked me, you’d leave it to me to decide what I look like.”
“But everyone has said its time for you to start acting like a girl.”
“It’s none of their business, and its none of yours, either.”
“Come on, it’ll be fun!”
“Fun for you, maybe. Why not let me decide for myself what’s fun for me?”
“But ... don’t you want the boys to notice you?”
“Why should I care if they do or not?”
(Gasps) “You’re not a ... lesbian, are you?”
“I didn’t say that. Maybe I like boys, maybe I like girls, maybe I like both, or neither, or haven’t even figured it out yet. Its not your business, regardless.”
“You’re not gonna try and tell us you think you’re a boy, are you?”
“My being a boy or a girl is my own business. I don’t have to share with you who I think I am.”
“But ...”
“Look, for the moment, I’m going to assume you mean well. But how would you feel if I got to decide what you wore? Maybe I think you’d look better looking like me. Would you be happy if I got to make you wear what I’m wearing?”
“N ... no....”
“Then don’t make my choices for me. If you don’t like how I look or act, you can just leave me alone. Its my life, and my choice.”
There is an awkward silence, and then the girls began to shuffle away.
The other person turns, walks the other direction, singing softly to themselves
“I've got to be me ... I've got to be me ...”
End
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Comments
Interesting....
Especially because we really don't know what gender the main character is biologically, or what gender they identify with.
The story works for me on three different levels - 1) this is a boy who is MtoF, 2) this is a girl who is FtoM, 3) this is a child who is not sure who or what they are and is comfortable with that for now.
Although I fall into category 1, I would be comfortable with all three - but I would feel best if this child falls into category 3. The concept of an ambiguous child who is willing to go with it until they determine who and what they are is nice. Too bad it doesn't happen that way. Our society only thinks in binary sets - M or F.
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
Possibilities
Or the kid is intersex.
or the kid thinks its nobody's business
nobody has the right to know what equipment they have in their pants, or even what they identify themselves as, unless the kid decides they want to share.
Thanks for commenting!
But Dot ...
The kid is wearing clothes ... The child is wearing clothes to keep HIR apparent gender a secret. So the child obviously has some issues surrounding nakedness and gender identity.
Now there's a thought!!!
or he/she doesnt wanna get arrested for going around naked
you gotta wear something, don't ya? Doesn't mean she/he has any issues regarding who she/he is
Thanks for commenting, and huggles to your grumpy cat
Or androgynous, or asexual,
Or androgynous, or asexual, or agender, or ...
so many choices, Valentine
giggles.
yeah, we like to put people in categories
I think the main character is just thinks who they are is their business, and nobody else's unless they want to share. They may feel quite sure of themselves, but dont feel like they have to advertise.
"I've got to be me" is a pretty good way to live, no?
Huggles, and thanks for commenting
This is so familiar.
Everyone get's pushed and prodded and tried to be put into boxes.
You're right full of person positive stuff lately honey it's pretty great stuff.
+100 Princess points.
*Great Big Proud Angel Hugs*
Bailey Summers
yay! Princess points!
Super princess huggles for you !
Posterity will look back on
Posterity will look back on us as the species of chimp who invented pizza and fizzy drinks.
or maybe posterity will see us as ...
the primitive form of a species that went out to conquer the stars, changing and adapting to a million planets ...
or maybe there will be nobody after us, and thus no "posterity" to remember us as anything at all ...
hugges, Nicki
Bringing Pizza and fizzy
Bringing Pizza and fizzy drinks to the universe.
If the person sings to themselves. . .
. . .should the lyric be "I've got to be us...I've got to be us."
Your dialogue is believable.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
giggles, Jill
I think the song is "I've got to be me", but I could be wrong ...
Thanks for the compliment on my dialogue!
I Want To Be Free
Do you mean this?
http://youtu.be/wMDZyJ0NoxI
I found it.
This reminded me of a comic I had once seen, and I found it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbLlCxK0pHY
Is there no boundary to the evil of the feminazis?
They clearly have no reservations about getting children to spread the shit around.
Someone's gonna pay for this, right?
the girls meant no harm
they just don't understand why if you could be pretty, you wouldn't want to be.
Well, pretty makes you a
Well, pretty makes you a target.
Mind you, some folks *want* to be a target. They often don't realize that you don't get to *choose* what you get targeted *for*.
(Never been pretty, but being "smart" is another way to become a target)
Brooke brooke at shadowgard dot com
http://brooke.shadowgard.com/
Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world
"Lola", the Kinks
sadly, you dont need to be pretty to be target
I was a boy, and therefore probably not "pretty" when I got targeted ...
Huggles!
I was a boy, and therefore
I was a boy, and therefore probably not "pretty" when I got targeted ...
There's a lot of that going around. :-)
Brooke brooke at shadowgard dot com
http://brooke.shadowgard.com/
Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world
"Lola", the Kinks
too many victims, Brooke.
Boys and girls, "pretty" or not so much, just too dam many of us ...
Good Very Good
There is a reason the space between our legs are called Privates not Generals.!!!!!
I love the story.
Misha
Nova
With those with open eyes the world reads like a book
that's right, Misha, its Private
nobody's business but our own.
You've done well!
Shaking all of us from our own kind of bigotry, where everyone identifies with some gender, sex, and wants (but is usually afraid) to share it with everyone.
Thanks!
PS. But protagonist will have to make a choice some time quite soon as in most cases the body will try to choose gender... So I will wait for part 2 :-)
the protagonist has to make a choice ?
who says they haven't? They just don't want to share what that choice is.
Thanks for commenting.
Masterful
You are truly expert at telling a meaningful story in a few words. This was another example of thought-provoking writing that deals with real-world contemporary issues.
thanks Torrey
you got me blushing.
It's so nice to see ...
... a story where someone of indeterminate gender is firm about not conforming to the gender expectations of others. :)
not conforming
we should be free to be ourselves, that's the point